Whether it’s the World Cup or the Iron Bowl, last-minute failures happen. It’s part of the beauty of sports. It isn’t over until it’s over. The fat lady sings and suddenly you can’t hear the words. There’s a buzzing in your ears, the earth is spinning, and the scoreboard is playing tricks on your eyes.

But no, it’s true. The second you think you’ve won is the second it’s over.

At least the U.S. Men's National Soccer Team has a chance at redemption. College football usually doesn’t work that way.

With that in mind, here are a few last-second losses that come to mind (or wins, depending how you look at it) in the SEC since 2000:

John David Mercer/USA TODAY SportsThe expression on Tre Mason (21) best captures the feeling of Chris Davis' TD return in last season's unforgettable Iron Bowl.

The Kick-6: You could’ve just knelt on it. You could have kept your rookie field goal kicker -- I repeat: a rookie! -- off the field and played for overtime. That’s what you do on the road, remember. Maybe you still lose in OT, but at least you don’t go down like that. You wouldn’t have to battle Chris Davis’ 109-yard path to the end zone in recruiting from now until eternity. I was outside of Alabama’s locker room after that game ended, and it’s the most deflated scene I’ve ever witnessed covering college football. On the other side, it was pure bliss.

Prayer at Jordan-Hare: These things just don’t happen. Looking back at Auburn’s two-week stretch against Georgia and Alabama, maybe you have to agree that it was a team of destiny. Because divine intervention would be the only way to describe Nick Marshall’s Hail Mary touchdown pass to Ricardo Louis. The game was over. Louis was triple-covered, and Marshall threw it anyway. Both Tray Matthews and Josh Harvey-Clemons overplayed the ball, eventually tipping it to Louis for the game-winning score.

Rocky Block: See, it’s not all bad, Tide fans. Nick Saban’s first national championship at Alabama doesn’t happen without a miracle of your own. Remember the feeling when, up 12-10, Daniel Lincoln lined up a potential 44-yard game-winning field goal for Tennessee with 4 seconds left? The dream was almost over. The perfect season was nearly dashed. Terrence Cody couldn’t block two kicks in one game, could he? Well, yes he could. The 365-pound tackle had just enough burst to break through the line, get a hand up and keep the dream alive. The coach on the other sideline that day: Lane Kiffin. How’s that for things coming full circle?

Flynn to Byrd: It can’t all be gravy, Auburn. We had to remind you of the game that almost was. With under a minute remaining, Les Miles looked like he was going to have another Les Miles moment. Down 24-23, with a makable field goal in sight, Miles instead went for the jugular. Matt Flynn took the snap, took five steps back and let it rip to Demetrius Byrd in the end zone. Auburn cornerback Jerraud Powers didn’t turn for the ball in time -- he would have easily knocked it down if he had -- and Byrd was able to snag it for the game-winning score with 1 second remaining. LSU would lose once more that year, but ultimately won the SEC title and the BCS national championship.

Florida-South Carolina, 2006: Jarvis Moss had no finer moment than when he timed his jump perfectly and blocked Ryan Succop’s would be 49-yard game-winning kick in 2006. Florida hung on to win 17-16 and former Gators coach Steve Spurrier was denied yet another win in The Swamp, his first as coach at South Carolina. From then on, Florida would roll all the way to the BCS national championship, beating Arkansas by double-digits in Atlanta before throttling Ohio State in Arizona.

The Catch: The SEC as a whole was let down with this one. LSU had Iowa beat in the Capital One Bowl in 2005 before the Hawkeyes got a play off on their own 44-yard line, down 25-24. Drew Tate hurried the snap, dropped back, bounced around for a few seconds and hurled a pass down the right sideline. LSU’s safeties were caught napping, defending the middle of the field and not the three receivers racing down the right sideline, and Warren Halloway came down with the pass cleanly, sprinting to the end zone for the game-winning score with no time left on the clock. And for an added dash of history, that was Saban’s final game as LSU’s head coach.

The Bluegrass Miracle: How could we forget? Saban wasn’t going to get dumped on twice in this post without reliving one of the craziest (positive) finishes of his career. LSU, ranked in the top 15 at the time, should have gone to unranked Kentucky and rolled. Instead, the Wildcats racked up 30 points on the Tigers and stood 75 yards away from a monumental upset. Players even gave coach Guy Morriss a Gatorade bath sensing the imminent victory. There was no way Marcus Randall, a quarterback with average arm strength, could throw the ball that far. Except he did. He launched it from LSU’s 25-yard line to around Kentucky’s 25, the ball was tipped, and Devery Henderson came down with the pass for the game-winning touchdown. Fireworks shot off from Kentucky’s sideline, but it was LSU’s win for the ages.